Coloring, highlighting and frosting hair have become popular methods of altering or accenting the color and/or look of a person's hair.
Typically, a coloring agent having a dye or bleach is painted onto a subject's hair. However, this results in the inability for a stylist to accurately control which strands of hair are colored and which are not, and could result in the running of the agent such that it contacts and damages the subject's scalp.
Other methods of coloring or frosting hair include covering the subject's hair with a cap having plurality of holes and utilizing a hook to pull strands of hair out of the cap. Once the desired strands of hair extend out of the cap, a coloring agent can be applied to those strands. However, this method is time consuming, imprecise and possibly painful to the person whose hair is being treated.
Another extensively used method of treating hair involves the use of a foil. In this case, strands of hair are separated from the subject's hair and placed on a small foil. Then, the coloring agent is applied to the hair. Then the foil is folded to enclose and encase the hair to be treated. The foil is then positioned to permit work on the next strand of hair.
There are, however, numerous problems associated with the foil method, notably, that the foil tends to move about during the application of the coloring agent thereby contacting other portions of hair and leaving a "spotted" look. Additionally, because the foil may be positioned in an upright position after application of the coloring agent, there exists the danger of seepage of the coloring agent from the foil to one's scalp. Additionally, this method prevents the stylist from viewing the placement of the foils until after the coloring agent is placed, resulting in potentially coloring too much or too little of the hair. Further, because the coloring agent is applied after each individual foil is positioned, there are frequently timing problems relating to the amount of time the coloring agent is on the hair, resulting in over processing or under processing the subject's hair. Also, there is a problem with dissipation of the strength of the coloring agent over time between application of the first and last foil.